Chicago Sun-Times: “John Fullbright comes of age”

Many thanks to Thomas Conner of the Chicago Sun-Times for this great review of John’s first show at SXSW:

Fullbright’s SXSW showcase — the first of eight gigs he has here this week — was as perfect as if it were a Jonathan Demme concert film…

Fullbright synthesizes the best songcraft from his home state — Webb, Leon Russell and, by default, Merle Haggard. Just in his 20s, he mournfully considers how “all my life I’ve tested truth / but truth’s not always sound.” … He’s got a tune called “Forgotten Flower,” a thoughtful country lament, that Tom Waits and Randy Newman could fight over.

…

The last three songs were plunked out on an upright piano, swinging from his own slow ballad “Nowhere to Be Found” to the dancing blues of “Ain’t Nobody’s Business If I Do.” The versatility was natural, authentic, untrained. Webb’s oft-repeated endorsement predicts “that in a very short time John Fullbright will be a household name in American music.” It may not be hyperbole.